//------------------------------//
// Chapter 28: Into the Cyber Realm 
// Story: A New Life 
// by arc5162 
//------------------------------//

June 20, 1005 BBB (Before the Battle of the Bell)

Maple was making good progress navigating through my mind, But things would only get weirder from here.



Maple Pov: 

I was starting to get a little weirded out. After seeing rooms dedicated to all the ways to prepare food and how to correctly care for annoying little brothers, I was certain I couldn't see anything stranger. 

I was then immediately proven wrong.

I then came across one of the landmarks Lugh told me to remember, The forbidden closet.

I then think to myself, "What is behind this door that makes it forbidden?"

I decide to find out. I opened the door slowly, and behind it was a long hallway lined with even more doors. I think to myself, "there is something strange going no here that my husband doesn't want me to know."

So, I walked down the hallway, passing by countless doors with plaques above them. Some of them said things like explicit material, more explicit material, and even more explicit material. I decided to see what was behind the door labeled explicit material. I slowly opened the door, and I did not like what I saw. I could feel my eyes shrinking, my mouth hanging open, and my face turn beet red. I then immediately closed the door.

"Well, I'm never getting that out of my brain."

I continued to walk down the corridor, passing by even more doors. Some were labeled wacky things and wild moments, eventually, I came to a door that said, "Danger: Keep Out at all Costs."

"I wonder what's in there."

However, looking at the time, I realized that I had been in here for 4 hours. So, I decide to call for Lugh.

"Hello, Can you hear me Lugh?"

"Yes, I can here you. Have you reached the epicenter yet?"

"Well, not exactly. I got sidetracked."

"Sidetracked how?"

"I found this door saying not to go in at all costs, and I wondered, why do you have a door labeled like this?"

"Because, I purposefully repressed those memories. Even I don't know what's behind it."

"Why would you repress memories? Aren't memories a good thing to learn from?"

After saying this, he paused for a moment, I could literally feel the turmoil in his mind as he thought of what I said. After a few minutes, he responded.

"Ok, you can go in, but don't say I didn't warn you."

I then went into the door, and immediately after I stepped through, I could feel why he repressed this memory. Inside the door was a familiar environment, his house, but the forest wasn't there. Surrounding Lugh's house were rows of other houses very similar to his, and right in front was what looked like some kind of path made of smooth rock. There were tall wooden poles lining this path with long thin lines connecting them, they reminded me of the wires in Lugh's room. 

I didn't have time to look around much however, because I soon saw dozens of other creatures that looked like the Lugh I saw running around franticly. They were all carrying stuff with them, what looked like large bags and rolling containers with long handles. I saw them rushing to load all of these bags into some kind of machine. I had never seen anything like it before, I looked like an enclosed wagon made completely of metal, but much more sleek and with black wheels.

Before I could wonder what this thing was, I heard a slam. One of the creatures has slammed the back of the machine and quickly gathered the others.

"Quick", he shouted, "get in the car, we need to go now!"

"What about the rations?"

"No time. there'll be more at the shelter, now lets go!"

After saying this, he slammed the door to the machine shut. I heard a weird stuttering noise followed by a long bang, and the machine took off down the path, disappearing into the distance.

After they left, I turned to see where they were going, but then I heard a weird sound, it sounded like a long high note, that then faded into a long low note and went back to the high note. This was followed by a lot of screaming.

"OH MY GOD, LOOK!", one of the creatures said. I turned to where she was looking, and my heart sank.

I didn't know how to describe what I saw, but then I though back to how Lugh described that war that ended human kind.

"There was a war, a war that consumed the entire planet. In the end, they released the ultimate weapon, a weapon that rained fire from the sky."

I realized, this was his memory of the war, I was witnessing the end of human kind. But before I could react, I saw red lights coming from behind me. Lugh's house suddenly began sinking into the ground, accompanied by sounds of turning gears and whirring motors. I jumped into the pit to follow the house, and as the house began to sink further, large metal doors started to close to fill the gap. Just as the metal doors were closing, I saw a rushing wall of fire pass over for a brief moment before the doors closed completely. 

It was dark. Then out of the darkness, I saw a golden light. It was Lugh in his deer form.

And he was crying.